Cerumen protection system for hearing aid devices

ABSTRACT

A device is provided for earphones that are introduced into the auditory canal that provide protection against cerumen in which the sound from the earphone is conducted onto a membrane that is arranged essentially parallel to the auditory canal. Proceeding from the membrane, the sound is forwarded onto the tympanum, where the membrane at least partially seals the earphone so that cerumen is kept away from the earphone. The membrane, including the earphone, can be removed from the hearing aid housing for cleaning purposes.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

1. Field of the Invention

The present invention is directed to a device for supplying sound to atympanum that is introducible into an auditory canal, comprising ahousing that comprises an essentially cylindrical housing section at anend facing toward the tympanum, comprising an earphone device for theoutput of sound signals, comprising a sound exit opening in the housingat that side of the housing facing toward the tympanum, and comprising acerumen protection device that is integrated into the housing forprotecting the earphone against cerumen penetrating through the soundexit opening. The present invention is also directed to a correspondingmethod for supplying sound to the tympanum.

2. Description of the Related Art

Contamination of an earphone by cerumen can occur in hearing aids aswell as other earphone devices that can be at least partially insertedinto the auditory canal. This frequently leads to outages of theearphone, particularly of in-the-ear hearing aids (ITE).

Open cerumen protection systems have been mainly previously utilized forsolving this problem, so that the cerumen cannot proceed to the earphonewithout further efforts. However, such open cerumen protection systemscannot always prevent the contamination of the earphone.

As an alternative solution, the German patent document DE 196 40 796 A1discloses a hearing aid in which the earphone is closed off from thetympanum by a membrane. International Patent Application WO-A-0045617likewise discloses a treatment device that has a sound exit opening thatis sealed by an acoustically transmissive, watertight film. The membranethat shields the earphone from the auditory canal, however, iscomparatively small, so that clearly perceptible attenuations of thesound to be transmitted from the earphone to the tympanum occur.

German Published Application DE 101 04 129 A1 also discloses a hearingaid with filter unit. The filter unit serves for protection againstcerumen and has a planar, membrane-like or sieve-like filter unit. Whenthe filter element is implemented slanted, a larger, effectivetransmission area for the sound can be created, where the risk ofblockage or contamination of the filter element is additionally reduceddue to the inclination and the larger effective area. Angles ofinclination between 45° and 90° are preferred. In the latter instance,the planar filter element lies along the central sound direction.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The object of the present invention is to provide a device and a methodfor supplying sound to the tympanum in which disturbing influences dueto cerumen are minimized.

This object is inventively achieved by a device for supplying sound to atympanum that is introducible into an auditory canal, comprising ahousing that comprises an essentially cylindrical housing section at anend facing toward the tympanum, comprising an earphone device for theoutput of sound signals, comprising a sound exit opening in the housingat that side of the housing facing toward the tympanum, and comprising acerumen protection device that is integrated into the housing forprotecting the earphone against cerumen penetrating through the soundexit opening, and that comprises a membrane that is arranged essentiallyparallel to the cylinder axis of the cylindrical housing section andthat picks up the sound of the earphone for forwarding to the sound exitopening, where the cerumen protection device comprises a receptacledevice in which the membrane and the earphone are integrated such thatthe membrane and the earphone can be removed from the housing at theside facing toward the tympanum.

Inventively, thus, the earphone can be sealed against penetratingcerumen by the membrane, whose area can be selected large enough so thatperceptible attenuations of the sound emitted by the earphone do notoccur. The reason for this is that, first, the transmission propertiesare better given larger membranes than small ones. Second, the largemembrane area also has the advantage that it cannot be as quicklycovered with cerumen, so that perceptible attenuations can be avoidedover a longer time.

The membrane integrated into the housing in the longitudinal directionof the housing also has the advantage that it provides less of an attackarea upon insertion into the auditory canal than membranes that areplanarly mounted at the end face of the housing, i.e., transverselyrelative to the auditory canal. The risk of tearing upon insertion canthus be reduced.

DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The present invention is explained below in greater detail on the basisof the attached drawings.

FIG. 1 is a pictorial perspective view of the housing of an ITE hearingaid;

FIG. 2 is a pictorial sectional view through a hearing aid according toa first embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 3 is a pictorial a sectional view through a hearing aid accordingto a second embodiment of the present invention; and

FIG. 4 is a pictorial a perspective view onto the housing according tothe second embodiment.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

The embodiments described below are preferred exemplary embodiments ofthe present invention and should not be construed as limiting theinvention.

FIG. 1 shows a housing 1 of an ITE hearing aid that reflects theindividual contours of an auditory canal. The housing 1 is approximatelycylindrical, and the housing section 2 facing toward the tympanumcomprises a smaller circumference than the housing section 3 facingtoward the outer ear. At its side facing toward the tympanum, thehousing 1 comprises an end face 4 that proceeds essentiallyperpendicular to the auditory canal when the hearing aid is insertedinto the ear. The end face 4 comprises an oblong sound exit opening 5through which the sound can proceed from the earphone to the tympanum.

It is especially advantageous when the cerumen protection devicecomprises a receptacle device into which the membrane can be plugged,potentially together with the earphone. The possibility thus derivesthat the earphone and the membrane can be easily replaced or cleaned.Beneficially, the receptacle device may be arranged such that themembrane and the earphone can be removed from the housing at that sidefacing toward the tympanum.

FIG. 2 represents a cut housing 1 into which an earphone 6 is installed.The earphone 6 first conducts the generated sound via a sound-guide tube7 into a shell or receptacle device 8. To this end, the receptacledevice 8 has a sound admission opening 9 that accepts the sound-guidetube 7 or at which the sound-guide tube 7 can be mounted.

The shell or receptacle device 8 is mounted fixed to the housing 1 atthe end face 4 below the sound exit opening 5. A membrane 10 can beinserted into the shell 8 through the sound exit opening 5. The area ofthe membrane 10 is larger than the area of the end face 4 of the housingthat faces toward the tympanum. In its inserted condition, the membrane10 divides the inside of the shell 8 into two parts, whereby the soundadmission opening belongs to the one part and the sound exit openingbelongs to the other. In its inserted condition, further, the membrane10 is situated opposite the sound admission opening 9 of the shell 8,and the sound entering into the shell 8 causes the membrane 10 tooscillate. The membrane 10 transmits the sound into the other part ofthe shell, so that it can proceed through the sound exit opening 5 tothe tympanum. Due to the sealing effect of the membrane 10, however, itis hardly possible for cerumen that invades the shell 8 in the soundexit opening 5 from the auditory canal to penetrate to the earphone 6.The risk of contaminating the earphone 6, which results in earphoneinoperability, is thus greatly reduced.

Over and above this, the membrane 10, which can be embedded in asuitable frame, can be removed from the sound exit opening 5 forcleaning. Beneficially, the frame in which the membrane 10 is clampedmay have an L-shaped continuation at that side lying opposite the soundexit opening 5. The cerumen that has penetrated into the gap between theshell wall and the membrane can also be removed with this L-shapedcontinuation upon removal of the membrane 10.

When the anatomy of the auditory canal allows it, the housing—accordingto FIG. 3—can comprise a larger diameter in the region of the housingsection 2 facing toward the tympanum than does the housing shown in FIG.2. The earphone 6 together with the cerumen protection device, which iscomposed of the shell 8 including the membrane 10, can then be arrangeddirectly under the end face 4 of the housing. A sound-guide tube 7 forconducting the sound from the earphone 6 to the membrane 10 is thus notneeded. On the contrary, the earphone 6 can be directly accommodated inthe shell or receptacle device 8, so that the earphone 6 can directlysupply the membrane 10 with sound. In this case, the sound exit openingof the earphone 6 lies at its side lying opposite the membrane.

FIG. 4 shows the end face 4 of the housing 1 that comprises a removablecover 11 in this second embodiment of the present invention, the shell 8being attached to the underside of said cover 11. Upon removal of thecover, thus, the earphone 6 together with the membrane 10 and the shell8 can be removed from the hearing aid. The membrane 10 can thus beeasily cleaned and the earphone 6 can also be replaced without furthereffort.

In this embodiment, the sound guidance following the membrane, as in thefirst embodiment, ensues between the membrane and the wall of the shell8 to the sound exit opening 5, which is closed by the cover 11 in thepresent case, this cover 11 comprising slot-shaped passages 12 in theregion of the sound exit openings. The transmission slots 12 assure thepassage of the sound but also simultaneously prevent the penetration oflarger cerumen constituents into the sound exit opening 5.

The advantage of the second embodiment is comprised therein that theearphone 6 together with the cerumen protection device 6, 8 can beremoved as a complete module for replacement purposes or cleaning.Depending on the earphone geometry, however, this is only possible inITE hearing aids whose users have an adequately large auditory canal.

For the purposes of promoting an understanding of the principles of theinvention, reference has been made to the preferred embodimentsillustrated in the drawings, and specific language has been used todescribe these embodiments. However, no limitation of the scope of theinvention is intended by this specific language, and the inventionshould be construed to encompass all embodiments that would normallyoccur to one of ordinary skill in the art.

The particular implementations shown and described herein areillustrative examples of the invention and are not intended to otherwiselimit the scope of the invention in any way. Moreover, no item orcomponent is essential to the practice of the invention unless theelement is specifically described as “essential” or “critical”. Numerousmodifications and adaptations will be readily apparent to those skilledin this art without departing from the spirit and scope of the presentinvention.

LIST OF REFERENCE CHARACTERS

-   1 housing-   2 housing section-   3 housing section-   4 end face-   5 sound exit opening-   6 earphone-   7 sound-guide lube-   8 receptacle device/shell-   9 sound admission opening-   10 membrane-   11 cover-   12 transmission slots

1. A device for supplying sound to a tympanum that is introducible intoan auditory canal, comprising: a housing that comprises an essentiallycylindrical housing section at an end facing toward a tympanum; anearphone integrated into the housing configured to output sound signals;a sound exit opening in the housing at a side of the housing facingtoward the tympanum; and a cerumen protection device that is integratedinto the housing for protecting the earphone against cerumen penetratingthrough the sound exit opening, and that comprises: a membrane that isarranged essentially parallel to a cylinder axis of the cylindricalhousing section and that picks up an earphone sound for forwarding tothe sound exit opening, a receptacle device in which the membrane andthe earphone are integrated and configured such that the membrane andthe earphone can be removed from the housing at the side facing towardthe tympanum.
 2. The device according to claim 1, wherein the receptacledevice can be removed from the housing at that side facing toward thetympanum.
 3. The device according to claim 1, wherein the area of themembrane is larger than the area of the end face of the housing thatfaces toward the tympanum.
 4. The device according to claim 1, whereinthe device is an in-the-ear hearing aid.